Phoenix Ascendant
by Neverwhere Chaos Mode
Summary: Saffron wakes up in a very strange place. A laboratory. So he blows open a wall to get out. Elsewhere, another familiar character wakes up from a two year nap...
1. What the Heck Happened to Me?

Prologue - What the heck happened to me?  
  
It was an absolutely gorgeous day. The sun was gently caressing the earth with its heat, but not causing it to become unbearable, either. The clouds were a puffy white without a hint of rain. Which was good, all things considered. The only thing marring the perfect day at Mt. Phoenix was the raging battle taking place, and given that one combatant was an actual Phoenix, and the other a Jusenkyo victim, it was really better for all involved.  
  
Ranma breathed heavily as he watched, waiting for Saffron's next move.  
  
_Hold on Akane…_  
  
---  
_I knew the stakes were high right from the start  
When she dealt the cards I dealt my heart  
Now I just found a game that I can't play  
And this is where the cowboy rides away_  
---  
  
Akane was dying, Saffron between her and her cure. Ranma swore under his breath. Saffron's flames were surging again - and he still hadn't caught his breath. He closed his eyes and considered his dwindling ki as Saffron dive-bombed him. This was too important - Akane was too important - to leave this to chance. He had to stop Saffron, and he had to do it now.  
  
And there was only way Ranma could conceive of to do it. As Saffron got closer, Ranma allowed himself a smirk. This one was in the bag.  
  
Now all he had to do was worry about surviving his own move.  
  
_Three… two… one… NOW!_  
  
---  
_And my heart is sinking like the setting sun  
Setting on the things I wish I'd done  
It's time to say goodbye to yesterday  
This is where the cowboy rides away_  
---  
  
Ranma jumped straight at Saffron. Saffron wheeled to avoid a blow, but that wasn't what Ranma had in mind. Ranma managed to get a hold of Saffron's leg. He ignored the heat and the burns and just concentrated on holding on. As his own skin was about to go up in flames, relief came. Relief in the form of the Soul of Ice. Ranma pushed the cooling technique to its limits. He not only forced it to go colder than he had ever dared before, but he maneuvered the flow of it, not only encasing him self, but completely enclosing Saffron as well.  
  
---  
_We've been in and out of love and in between  
And now we play the final showdown scene  
And as the credits role a sad song starts to play  
This is where the cowboy rides away_  
---  
  
No longer able to fly without the fire, Saffron and Ranma crashed into the mountainside. Ranma just kept clinging, refusing to give up either his hold or the Soul of Ice. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his father and Mr. Tendo reach Akane's body, and begin moving her away. Above him, Saffron clawed at Ranma's arms, trying to shake him loose, but each attempt was weaker than the last.  
  
---  
_And my heart is sinking like the setting sun  
Setting on the things I wish I'd done  
Oh the last good bye's the hardest one to say  
This is where the cowboy rides away_  
---  
  
He grinned as he saw Mr. Tendo lower Akane's body into the water. _Only one thing left to do now._ Ranma pushed the Soul of Ice harder, and it became colder still, ending the Phoenix's life. Ranma drew his ki back, in an attempt to keep enough left in him to live. But with the Soul of Ice completely surrounding Saffron, it also pulled in his fading ki as well.  
  
Down below, Akane opened her eyes just in time to see Ranma explode into flame, bringing the already unstable mountain crashing down.  
  
---  
_Oh the last good bye's the hardest one to say  
This is where the cowboy rides away_  
---

* * *

"RANMA!"  
  
Akane attempted to climb towards the still burning flames, but was halted by the Amazon matriarch. "No, child! You can do nothing!"  
  
Akane glared, and she tried to push past, despite her weakness. She was stopped easily once more. "There is _nothing_ you can do! The boy is dead. And soon Saffron shall be reborn! I can feel it!"  
  
At that, Soun Tendo seized his daughter around the waist, threw her over his shoulder, and started running. Genma was not far behind him.  
  
Ryoga ground his teeth in frustration and sprinted after Soun, determined to watch after Akane. _Damn you Ranma! How dare you die before we settled things!_  
  
His thoughts of aborted revenge plaguing him, he stepped the wrong way around a rock and appeared somewhere in the Sahara desert. He wasn't seen for quite some time after that.  
  
Mouse, on the other hand, remained as calm as was possible. That is to say, he panicked. Coming out of it when Cologne bonked him oh the head with her staff, he nodded shortly to himself. _Why is Shampoo just standing there?_  
  
With that thought, he grabbed a fallen tree and slung it over his shoulder running after the moving blurs he was _sure_ were Genma and Soun.  
  
He got it right for once. Who knew?  
  
Shampoo on the other hand (the real one, not the log), ran as well, keeping up admirably. She grumbled a bit at the sight of him carrying the log and screaming "I'll save you Shampoo!" but deigned not to hit him - for now. Right now it was best just to get out before Saffron came back.  
  
Cologne, as has often been suggested, was quite a bit more cunning than her great-granddaughter. She hopped on the end of the log and let Mouse carry her out.

* * *

An ocean away, a woman with red hair sat frowning, not believing the heat signature that had been coming off of the mountain had simply spiked and disappeared. She eyed the computer wondering if maybe a certain klutz had gotten inside and messed with things while she wasn't looking.  
  
_I mean, how the hell does that happen? The place wasn't even a volcano!_  
  
She sighed, then turned around suddenly as the computer began beeping again. She grinned as the heat signature was picked up again. She eyed the location, then pushed a few buttons to bring up her daughter on the communications frequency.  
  
"Oooh Ryoookoooo!"

* * *

Ryoko was decidedly bored. There was absolutely nothing of interest going on at the moment. _And what's worse, I seem to be the only person here who has a problem with it!_  
  
And this was more or less true. Sasami wasn't much of one for adventures, she never had been, and seemed perfectly content in her kitchen.  
  
Ayeka seemed content to assist her sister in whatever housekeeping duty was necessary, when she wasn't watching soap operas. That was something Ryoko enjoyed as well, but weeks on end with nothing but that to do was her limit.  
  
Mihoshi was off somewhere doing something, whatever her GP duties required Ryoko supposed. Doing something with Mihoshi might have been good for a lark, but police and space pirates don't really mix all that well.  
  
Yosho seemed content to tend to his shrine, but that was no surprise, he'd been doing it for seven hundred years.  
  
Even Tenchi seemed content with the lifestyle they'd settled into. She'd watched him working a few times, and found it boring. But Tenchi seemed to be enjoying himself, and come home each day with a small, content smile on his face.  
  
Truth be told, Washu might be doing something interesting, but something interesting for Washu often held massive amounts of irritation for Ryoko mostly because they often became huge dangers for everyone else.  
  
"Oooh Ryoookoooo!"  
  
Ryoko groaned. _Great. Speak of the devil._ "What?!"  
  
The face smirked. "Now, now, is that any way to speak to your mother?"  
  
Ryoko growled. "What do you want?"  
  
The smile became somewhat more normal. "Just a small favor, I promise. I need you to go to some coordinates in china and pick up a heat source I've discovered."  
  
Ryoko raised an eyebrow. "What's so interesting about something that generates heat? Can't you just build one?"  
  
Washu groaned. "Yes… but I'm curious as to what kind of earth technology could produce this kind of heat. It's more than a little unusual."  
  
Ryoko sighed. _At least it's _something_ to do._

* * *

A few seconds later Ryoko appeared over Jusenkyo, looking at the boiling water. _Great. It's in the water._   
Ryoko flew down to the shore, and tested the water with a toe. It was hotter than she'd have liked, but not too hot to deal with. _Still, I don't really feel like getting wet today…_  
  
Ryoko raised her shield and floated down, the water parting for her shield until she reached the bottom.  
  
The 'heat source', if it could be called such, was small and ovoid. It would fit comfortably in two hands. _Assuming I can even grab it, that is._  
  
She sighed, and reached down for the egg with a finger. She flinched back at heat pouring off it, her finger burnt. _The things I do to relieve boredom._ She gathered herself to teleport, then snatched the object up quickly before it burned her too badly.

* * *

The instant Ryoko returned, Washu directed her over to a place to set the ovoid object. Washu grinned sadistically at the egg as Ryoko teleported out, probably to complain to Tenchi about the burns.  
  
She stared at the egg in the anti-grav field. Then she smiled. "Hmm. I wonder just how much heat you produce. That's a good idea! I'll just store you until you run out of gas or I need you for something."  
  
She glanced idly around the lab. "Hmm. But where to put you? I don't want the heat to tamper with the other experiments." Then she grinned. "I know!"  
  
Washu built what was essentially a shower. It had four clear walls and a water faucet. Sealed with the egg inside, it began pumping cold water down onto it, before being drained out the bottom. She lost sight of the egg in the steam, but shrugged. The egg was in the far corner of the fourth sub-basement, and the other components wouldn't be affected all that much by temperature even if something or someone happened.  
  
Even with something to do with the egg, Washu's mind craved a hands on science, not waiting around to observe an egg. Setting her computer to monitor things, she left it alone, instructing it to inform her when the egg finally ran out of juice.  
  
With those procedures in place, she didn't notice a week later when Mihoshi accidentally changed the water tap for the chamber to hot.

* * *

Two years later.  
  
If it had the programming to, the computer would have been a little worried about the egg in the glass chamber. With the hot water, the egg had started growing little by little, and now threatened to burst open the container. The water pressure from lack of space was enormous, but still the thing held, a testament to Washu's genius, and whatever the clear stuff was made of.  
  
The egg seemed to have stopped growing for the moment, which was good. But the computer's monitoring had also revealed that the heat was getting erratic, spiking at odd moments.  
  
**KABOOOM!**  
  
The entire fourth sub-basement shook as the container burst open with a massive explosion of fire and superheated water. The computer did as it was programmed to in such situations. The doors sealed and the pipes clamped off revealing a flaming figure on the ground. The computer, without any real orders for something to do, merely recorded its observations, attempting to decided what had happened. It couldn't quite tell if the heat/power source was destroyed or mutated. The chamber had exploded, revealing the flaming figure huddling in the sprinklers. Eventually the flames faded, revealing nothing but smooth alabaster skin, though hair was growing on it.  
  
The computer considered its protocols for a moment. The fire, now that it was put out, wasn't too much of an issue. That, and with a lab whose total floor space could cover the surface of several planets, is was really unrealistic to think that there wasn't _something_ burning or exploding at any given time, experiments being experiments and all. So, the computer did what it was programmed to.  
  
It placed the incident in the appropriate log file, refilled the results of the 'experiment' as 'inconclusive', and waited for the self repair systems to kick in.  
  
All was right in its world.  
  
That was when the figure burst into flame anew, and tossed a fireball at a nearby wall, releasing itself from the fourth subbasement, back into, well, the ironic thing was that the protocols for such a thing were to temporarily merge the tear in the walls with the real world, so that no one got lost in the space between pocket dimensions.  
  
An explosion powerful enough to breach the wall was something it was required to inform Washu of, so it did that.  
  
The flaming figure, on the other hand, sprouted wings, and began to fly off.  
  
All was still right in the computer's world, as it was a computer with very limited AI. It didn't know what a good or bad result was.

* * *

Washu had received the alarm at the dinner table and rushed for the lab without explanation.  
  
The others glanced at each other, then were on their feet in an instant following. They followed Washu though the lab until they reached the sealed off section.  
  
When the door opened, they were assaulted by heated steam. Washu activated the fans, and the scene became cleared as the charred remains were revealed.  
  
Washu followed an indicator that showed a foreign presence in the lab over to just behind what was left of a battle mech. There, to the surprise of everyone was a small bunny. Washu sweat-dropped and teleported the bunny outside the lab. Glancing around, she noted the closing tear in the wall. "Well… that's not good."  
  
Ryoko had a slight grin on her face. It wasn't often that it was Washu who messed up. She had to make the most of it. "Soo… what horror did you unwittingly unleash upon the world this time?"  
  
Washu growled a moment, then sighed and shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. Just that it might as well be a living ball of fire, and powerful enough to rip through one of the lab's retaining walls. Something only you, Tenchi or Yosho could accomplish."  
  
Ryoko shut up. _This… might be bad. Just what the hell was that thing?_

* * *

Saffron was angry!  
  
Saffron was powerful!  
  
Saffron was… well, if you wanted the honest to god truth; Saffron was more than a little tired. But he still wanted to put as much distance between himself and… whatever the hell that place had been, so he kept going.  
  
He was over a forested area, so he settled down in a clearing. He would press on tomorrow. He would gather the Phoenix tribe. He would kill Saotome and all those he held dear. Then he would go after the other landlings, the Amazon and the Musk. He _would_ have revenge for all that was done to him.  
  
Saffron settled down, and began to sleep. Whether he liked it or not, breaking that wall had taken effort, and he would require sleep before revenge.

* * *

Unlike the aforementioned computer, all was most definitely not right in the world of Ranma Saotome.  
  
Last thing he remembered, he was on the mountain fighting Saffron. He'd killed him, then collapsed. A moment later there was a blinding flash of pain, then… nothing. _And this definitely ain't the mountain._  
  
_Well,_ he thought as he looked around, _that isn't all true. This is definitely _a_ mountain, just not Phoenix Mountain._ As he looked down to make sure he was okay, he groaned, and started changing her pronouns.  
  
'He' was most definitely a she at this point, _but at least I seem to be okay otherwise… even if I'm buck naked. Oh well, I've fought people in the buff before, getting around will only be embarrassing, not painful._  
  
Ranma paused then. He might have had no choice about his clothing (or lack there of), but didn't _have_ to let people see him. Ranma sighed. He might have agreed with his father about sealing the Umi-Sen-Ken, it was simply too dishonorable to use, but this was a special circumstance. Besides, it wasn't like he was planning to steal anything. Nodding shortly to himself, his justification complete, Ranma slipped into the Umi-Sen-Ken, and slipped through the woods, still wondering in the back of his mind just what the hell had happened to him.  
  
Ranma didn't know where he was, so he simply headed in a random direction through the trees, hoping that he wasn't developing Ryoga's directional problems in addition to everything else.

* * *

Two days later, with no signs whatsoever of the winged fire thing the security cameras had picked up, Tenchi and company decided to hope that maybe it wouldn't be coming back. Washu agreed that it might simply have something powerful but frightened by being in a strange place - the egg had been in there two years after all. It might just have been an isolated incident.  
  
This morning, Tenchi and his grandfather were practicing the family sword art. Tenchi, as usual, was getting his ass handed to him. Tenchi managed to graze Katsuhiko a couple of times, and started getting confident. Until he realized his grandfather was only setting him up. This revelation came, unfortunately, only when the older man appeared behind him and knocked him into the woods.  
  
That was Tenchi's cue to scream like a baby as he sailed through the air. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"  
  
**WHAM!**  
  
Tenchi smiled softly to himself. _At least I landed on something soft…_  
  
"Get. Off."  
  
Tenchi opened his eyes to find he was lying on a chest that rivaled Ryoko's. And the attached female was most definitely not as happy as Ryoko would be. Tenchi blushed and scrambled backwards. The red headed girl rolled back a little, then came forward, rolling onto her feet.  
  
Tenchi developed a nosebleed from the movements. The girl nodded shortly to herself. The jerk had this coming to him. Tenchi blinked as his eye candy faded from sight.  
  
"I certainly hope you enjoyed the show, pervert. 'Cause I'm gonna take the price out of your hide."  
  
A second later he felt a breeze, then pain, then nothing.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, or Tenchi Muyo. I won't bother repeating this in every chapter of the story. So this is it.  
  
Okay. You may have noticed that the first part of this is identical to the opening to Bladed Honor. That's deliberate. In fact, Dragonic Fate repeats those two scenes in its prologue as well, just so that it's clear that all three have the same starting point.  
  
I posted this because the next chapter of Bladed Honor required knowledge of Phoenix Ascendant to work right, and avoid spoilers. And another chapter or two after that, there's a chapter of Bladed Honor that needs a little of Dragonic Fate to be started to work, so that's about when you'll see that one come out.  
  
Bladed Honor is the 'main' fic of the three for right now. The other two are being developed as Bladed Honor requires it. Dragonic Fate simply because I need to be in the right mood in order to write it, and Phoenix Ascendant because I'm a little bastard and I like to see you beg and squirm.  
  
Out. 


	2. A Really Bad Day

Chapter 1 – A Really Bad Day  
  
Over the shrine, in fact it was several miles over the shrine, a ship waited in orbit, completely cloaked to all monitoring systems. Only another ship of its kind would be able to find it. Specifically, it was an Iwaman ship.  
  
The Iwaman aboard was, well, an assassin. And a highly paid one at that. That was because this particular assassin was Iwaman royalty. He was a somewhat distant cousin, but he was royalty none the less.  
  
His work as an assassin made him special, indispensable, because so few Iwamans plied that particular trade, and it was even rarer among the royalty. Ironically, this did not make him unpopular. He was one of the most desired men on the planet of Iwama, truth be known. Royal Iwaman parties were things of legend among his people. The games of politics were dangerous, and that was their stomping ground. Court was just the awards ceremony.  
  
Jikei, the name of this particular Iwaman royal, always attended these parties with a contract in mind. Not only did he usually fulfill this contract, but he gained several others. The majority of which were carried out before the night was through. _Poison is a wonderful thing._  
  
On this job however, poison was not his weapon of choice. Not by itself, in any event. That was the back up. This was going to be fast, in and out, slit the throat and be done with it. Where as most other jobs required major slight of hand, this required major stealth skills. The skill sets were not too far apart, but still required a different way of doing things.  
  
He checked his gear, standard dagger, a stealth suit, optical array, and –just in case- a smooth oblong object, widened at one end, with a hole there. The soft light coming from the hole seemed to pulsate in time the large rock behind him…

* * *

Tenchi woke, feeling decidedly uncomfortable. There were a number of reasons for this.  
  
1) He was hog tied, and gagged no less, with some vines. The knots were good and so were their strength. Whoever did this to him had had experience with this sort of thing before.  
  
2) He wasn't wearing any clothing. Given his attacker seemed to be nude when she attacked; she was probably wearing it herself. Well, that and he could see her doing so. That led to the third reason he was uncomfortable.  
  
3) She was carrying him over her shoulder like a bag of rice while jumping from branch to branch at a pace usually compared to more mechanized means of conveyance, like say, a motorcycle, or a jet plane.  
  
Said girl, complete with fire red hair, was muttering under her breath. He couldn't catch much of it, but the things he could catch were a) about him, and b) uncomplimentary.  
  
In other words, she was cursing like a sailor about the 'pervert' she'd found. This did not bode well for our intrepid hero. When she sprinted at breakneck speed over a rickety wooden bridge, which in turn was over a deep canyon, he knew decisively that they were heading away from the shrine. This, too, did not bode well. _What is she planning on doing with me?_  
  
Several perverted fantasies involving her whisking him away for a tryst formed, but he quickly shook it off. This was a time to be serious. Besides, given the reason she'd beaten the snot out of him they were highly unlikely anyways.  
  
So, he reviewed the situation. He didn't have the leverage to break the vines. He didn't have clothing. Night was swiftly coming, so the previous problem was a bit more pressing than usual. He didn't have any form of access to the tenchi-ken, or his bokken.  
  
So, in short, unless someone else did something, he was screwed. He started sweating.  
  
"Eh? You awake back there?"  
  
_Oh boy… not good._  
  
"Well? Say something, jerk."  
  
"Mmmph!"  
  
There was an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, right. Forgot about that. I went a bit overboard, didn't I?" Then the tone of voice changed. "But you shouldn't have been looking at me you ass!" Then there was a muttering. Hopeful at first because it mentioned an apology, but not so in the end, largely because he didn't think he was the 'uncute tomboy' mentioned.  
  
"MMMPHF!" Tenchi had tried to say something to get himself out of this mess, but the gag wasn't helping. But, luckily for him, it seemed to be enough.  
  
"Oh, alright, already. Settle down a second!"  
  
She stopped fast enough to make dust swirl up around them, and casually dumped him on the ground. She ripped the gag off casually, and leaned down into his face.  
  
"Alright. Where's the nearest place where there's some other people?"  
  
Tenchi gulped. The answer would probably not be pleasant- for either of them.  
  
"Back the way we came."  
  
The red head stared at him incredulously, then looked back that way, probably trying to see if she could see the shrine from here. Then she grumbled.  
  
"I'm an idiot. If I'd been paying attention, I could've saved a lot of time. This is just my luck."  
  
She continued grumbling to herself even as she hoisted Tenchi back up onto her shoulders, and started making a beeline for the shrine the moment they were back over the bridge.  
  
Sensing his companion, such as she was, would not appreciate being bothered, Tenchi contemplated his fate. Then he wished he hadn't. In fact, he hoped they weren't found for some time. Hopefully long enough for him to find some clothes. The consequences of being found in this position were not good. No matter who showed up first.  
  
He started sweating heavily.

* * *

Speaking of which, Ryoko had finally spotted Tenchi. The old man had come in saying he'd left Tenchi to think about things. Which meant that he'd knocked Tenchi out and left him in the grass. When he failed to return after several hours, she was immediately dispatched to look for him.  
  
_And just maybe we'll forget to come back for a bit, have some 'quality' time._  
  
Ryoko was giggling to herself, just as she'd spotted him. And her. She was stealing Ryoko's Tenchi. She'd already stolen his clothes, and she was dragging the real thing off to who knows where. She had to die now. In fact, death was too good. She dive bombed.  
  
She made a resounding slamming noise when she hit the ground. She looked up to see the red head blinking at her. "Who're you?"  
  
Ryoko didn't answer, she just growled, and flew at the hated red head, throwing a punch. It never landed. Her face however, managed to make a crash landing as the weight of the girl plus Tenchi slammed into her head from above. The girl spoke again. "Can you at least tell me why you're attacking me?"  
  
Ryoko growled, and phased through her opponent, coming up to a more or less standing position, if you don't count the fact that she was floating about a foot off the ground, anyways. Ranma landed softly, having adjusted instantly. She eyed Ryoko. "You wouldn't happen to know a guy named Herb, would you?"  
  
Ryoko's voice was low and dangerous. "Give me Tenchi. Now."  
  
Much to her surprise, the redhead only blinked. "Eh? Is that his name? I didn't catch it before I tied him up. Had to use a lot of vines too, he's stronger than he looks." A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that Tenchi was very much awake, and sweating profusely.  
  
"YAAH!"  
  
Ryoko's battle cry filled the area as she charged once again. This time she slammed into a tree, breaking it in two. She shoved the rest of it absently off of herself as she looked around for her opponent.  
  
She couldn't see the girl, but what was worse was her inability to _sense_ her opponent. This wasn't good, especially if she was to get her Tenchi back soon enough to run off with him herself.  
  
There came a noise from behind her, and Ryoko spun, launching a blast… right into the still naked, still tied up, still heavily sweating Tenchi.  
  
Shocked at what she'd just done, namely the deep frying of her 'one true love', she failed to detect the ki infused fist before it impacted the back of her head and rendered her unconscious. There came a chuckling as Ranma faded back into view, smirking.  
  
Then she sighed and, muttering to herself the whole way, put one of them over each shoulder, moving towards the strange ki signatures she felt in the distance.

* * *

Washu, self proclaimed greatest scientist in the universe, frowned as she felt her link to Ryoko cut off suddenly. She was about to look into it, when she was interrupted by blazing sirens.  
  
Well, actually, they weren't sirens, so much as they were miniature versions of herself running around screaming 'Intruder alert! Intruder alert!'. Washu nodded a moment, then turned back to the computer. Then her hands started flying across her keyboard when the full significance of it hit her. Looking through out the house she found… nothing. It started up a basic math equation in her head.  
  
Intruder alert No sign of intruder = Not Good  
  
Not Good Ryoko's link cut off = Bad  
  
Bad Tenchi missing = Really Bad  
  
Then, something did appear on her monitors, out in the back yard. Four people. Ayeka, Yosho, Sasami, and Mr. Inruder. That was worse. The intruder was holding Sasami hostage.  
  
While this was not usually too much of a problem, given that Yosho was armed with the Tenchi-ken and was better trained than Tenchi himself, this was still really bad, as Yosho lay on the ground bleeding to death.  
  
Really bad Yosho down = Deep #&$!#&$ $#!%

* * *

Ayeka was sweating. Electrically charged, her guardians surrounding the man holding Sasami hostage, keeping him from going anywhere, they were at a standoff. If he moved, she and the logs would fry him. But if she moved, Sasami was dead. And there was no guarantee that anyone was coming to save them.  
  
Of course, then someone yelled out from the front of the house.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
The distraction was all the assassin needed. The moment Ayeka's attention was diverted, he struck out, smashing both of her guardians into the house wall. Washu appeared then, and a dome appeared overhead. The man cursed. "Release the barrier, or she dies."  
  
Washu glared at him. "Iwamans aren't known for mercy. She'll die either way, we both know it. The knife's poisoned."  
  
The man shrugged and grinned. "Well, you're right. Might as well get it out of the way then." He raised the knife. Ayeka was up in an instant, rushing for her sister. She was far too late as the knife came down…  
  
And slashed right through empty air and into his own stomach.  
  
"Sasami!!"  
  
Washu blinked. Sasami was right there, hugging Ayeka for all she was worth, bawling her eyes out. The assassin raised something to his lips, and drank. "The antidote!"  
  
The antidote also disappeared, just as there was the sound of flesh cracking plastic, making the man slump forward, unconscious. A smirking red haired girl appeared off to the side, bouncing the vial with the antidote in one palm, casually holding the knife in the other. She arched an eyebrow. "So… someone mind telling me what's going on?"  
  
Of course, that was when Ryoko showed up, saw Yosho, the girl, and the knife. She screamed, and launched a pair of energy blasts at her.  
  
Washu blinked. And blinked again. Their red headed interloper seemed to be missing, and Ryoko was near the ground peering everywhere intently. Barely restraining her extreme irritation that Ryoko had scared off the person holding the antidote, Washu tried the diplomatic approach. She lost her control after the first word. "Ryoko, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!"  
  
Ryoko was a bit taken aback. "She was…"  
  
"I don't care! She had the antidote to whatever the hell it was that guy in black used to poison Yosho with on her, and you almost vaporized her!"  
  
Now Ryoko was confused. "What guy in black?"  
  
"The one right over… huh?"  
  
The man was gone. Washu's response was immediate. "Crap."

* * *

Ranma released the Umi-Sen Ken. He'd been using it since the crazy woman had started pelting energy blasts at him again. Hearing the talk of antidote, he'd decided to sneak into their house and leave the knife and the antidote where they'd be found by anyone with half a brain.  
  
Then he'd gotten the hell out of dodge.  
  
One thing he was convinced of now was that he was back in Japan. Somewhere. As he, and probably Ryoga, could attest to, very few people spoke Japanese outside Japan, so the fact that it came so naturally to all of them was a big clue. _Well, I should probably try to find a city. There can't be one too distant from here. I need to find out where I am. And how long I've been out. Probably at least a couple of weeks given I'm back in Japan._  
  
Ranma's musings were interrupted by a voice he'd never wanted to hear again.  
  
"Hello landling."  
  
Ranma turned to Saffron, wings holding him a few feet off the ground, smirking confidently at him. Ranma gulped unconsciously, but readied himself to fight.  
  
_I so do not need this right now._

* * *

Washu twitched.  
  
She'd found the antidote and the knife on the table just inside.  
  
That was good.  
  
Her sensors hadn't detected the entry, and to her cameras, they'd simply materialized out of thin air.  
  
That was bad.  
  
Tenchi was back.  
  
That was good.  
  
He'd been bound and naked.  
  
That might have been good, had she been allowed to escort him down to the lab (just to make sure he was okay, mind you), but Ayeka accused Ryoko of it, Ryoko accused the red-head from earlier, and the whole thing had ended in a fight.  
  
That was mostly irritating, but still kinda bad.  
  
But now, and she simply could not believe the horrific timing, _now_ the fire-person/thing was back on her scanners, apparently blowing up sections of the forest just to the north.  
  
That was bad.  
  
The bad was outweighing the good at this point, and the sheer compression of it all into the space of a few hours was really starting to make her wig out.  
  
She _really_ didn't need Ryoko's whining right now. It was time to break out the 'mother knows best' card.  
  
"Ryoko! Check it out! Now!"  
  
"But…"  
  
"I am your mother, and you will do as I say! Tenchi will be here for you to ogle later! GO!"  
  
Ryoko went.

* * *

Ranma dodged back instinctively as Saffron tossed a fireball. He winced as the grass started to go up. He calmed, bringing up the soul of ice, and made it a bit colder than normal. Not what he'd used on Saffron last time, but it was more than cold enough to keep the flames down.  
  
Several minutes later, Ranma barely skipped out of the way as he wiped the sweat off his brow. He was tired from running and using the Umi-Sen Ken all day, not to mention carrying the pervert and the crazy girl. At least it didn't look like Saffron was doing ay better though, as he was barely able to keep himself off the ground, and his blasts were coming less and less frequently.  
  
Ranma swore silently as Saffron raised both of his hands over his head and gathered his flaming ki for yet another blast. Right then, Ranma got what he needed, a distraction. They both detected the new energy source, but Ranma didn't let himself be distracted by it. Ranma smirked as he gathered the cold ki in his hands with his confidence, even as Saffron swore and turned back.  
  
"Die landling!"  
  
"Mouko Takabisha!"  
  
Ranma, however, lacked sufficient ki and confidence to power the blast properly, and the fireball smashed through it, hitting him, sending him flying back against a tree. As the source got closer, Saffron cursed.  
  
"You're lucky today landling! I'll be back. And I'll destroy everything you hold dear!"  
  
That was the last thing he remembered seeing before he blacked out.

* * *

Ryoko returned a short while later with an extremely burnt red-head. She was holding the girl as far away as possible, like she was something to be thrown in the garbage. Washu sighed, but Ryoko dumped the girl on an examination table without further complaint, before looking for (and finding) Tenchi, who was, much to her disappointment, now fully clothed.  
  
Speaking of which, the clothing the red-head had 'borrowed' from Tenchi was burnt beyond repair. Only a few choice strings kept it on her, much to Tenchi's discomfort. Washu sighed and shooed them out. Yes, she'd call if she needed anything. Yes, she'd tell them when Yosho was capable of handling visitors. And YES, she'd inform them when her newest patient woke up.  
  
She grumbled a bit, but soon settled as it appeared that Yosho would be recovering and that no new problems would be presenting themselves almost immediately. Being the greatest scientist in the universe was tiresome at times, but once things were well in hand they always seemed to go better.

* * *

Sometime later, the group, minus the still unconscious Yosho, was gathered around the now hospital gown clad girl. Washu grinned. "Would you guys get a grip already? She'll be up in ten seconds. Eight… Seven… Six… Fi-"  
  
She was interrupted by a low groan from the girl. Her eyes wandered from face to face lazily, until she found Ryoko's.  
  
The only reason the leaping kick missed was that Ryoko turned immaterial.  
  
Landing lightly on her feet, she teetered a bit, then fell over. Washu shrugged. "Given the stories, I thought it best to keep her a little sedated." Then she frowned. "But I used enough to take out an elephant. Her metabolism must be something else…"  
  
A bit later than this, with the misunderstandings sorted out, the girl laughed sheepishly, hand scratching the back of her head.  
  
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."

* * *

Well, it's been a while, but I had some issues to work out with the plot lines of all three fics. shudder  
  
In any event, the next chapter I post on this series will be Bladed Honor. All you really need to know at this point is that Ranma is alive, so I could have left you hanging last chapter if I'd felt like it. But I didn't.  
  
As far as the ending goes… I couldn't resist.  
  
Reviews:  
  
pspinler writes:  
  
Well, this is a fun premise. Mostly good writing, too, especially in the second half of the chapter.  
  
Obviously Ranma and Sauffron have merged in some way such that only one of them is dominant at a time. Ought to make Sauffron getting his revenge more interesting. :-)  
  
The Tenchi xover bit is odd though. Why in the world are the Tenchi characters involved at all ?  
  
-- Pat  
  
An excellent question, Pat. Why Tenchi Muyo? I need Ranma to stay out of Nerima for a while, while Kenshin's thing goes down. I needed him out, but I didn't want him to be alone, I need characters interacting with eachother or I go nuts writing the thing.  
  
Now, that being said, the cast of Tenchi provide a neat plot opportunity, namely for something besides the Ranma vs. Saffron grudge match. They provide a good place for him to stay, people to train with, and badies to fight. Until I'm ready for him to return to Nerima anyways.  
  
Okay, that seems to be it. Remember, the next chapter I'm releasing for the series is a Bladed Honor chapter. Then, a chapter or two after, we start Dragonic Fate. 


End file.
